Still Waters Campground

Location: Still Waters Campground, Frankfort, KY

Cost: $3 per car

Ages: All

What an amazing, picture perfect day!!! The family went to Still Waters campground in Frankfort for the day and it could not have been better. Our kids have already begun making plans to go back and camp. Some of the specific highlights:

• lots of soft grass to play in and picnic in
• we were the only ones in the creek
• the kids enjoyed finding the fish and crawdads (ok, only a couple of them enjoyed the crawdads. The others took some convincing that they were harmless)
• alternating shallow and semi deep water. Plenty of room for beginning swimmers but other places for older kids
• bathrooms and showers on site
• picturesque and peaceful!

We had a great time and would recommend this spot to anyone, young or old. Great hidden find!

Cemetary

Location: Various Local Cemetaries

Cost: free

Suitable Age: any

Are we weird for enjoying a stroll through a pretty cemetary? There are so many small cemetaries here! Every time we turn around there is a small cemetary on the side of the road. There is one in the median not too far from our home with only two or three plots in it. I guess back in the day people would bury their loved ones close to home. Years later the city simply planned streets around the graves so there are lots and lots of little cemetaries. The oldest date we have found so far is the early 1800's. Since the kids like to do family history, this is a fun hands on activity. They get to see how long a person lived and (in typical little boy fashion) create a cause of death for each person we come across. So far, the people we have "met" in the cemetary have been run over by trains, fallen out of three story buildings and eaten by bears. Guess we will never really know how they died and I sure hope they don't come back to correct us!

County Fair

Amish neighbors

tractor at the county fair

Lake Cumberland Park Pool

roadside farmer- she works barefooted all day at this roadside stand

typical view driving down the road

Location: Southern Kentucky, includin Lake Cumberland Park

Cost: County Fair was $8/person for parking and all the ride you wanted

Suitable Ages: Any, so long as long car rides are not a problem

One of the best parts of being in a small town is the "small town feel". We experienced that this weekend when we traveled to southern Kentucky for a county fair. With 120 counties in Kentucky, there is always a county fair to be had somewhere throughout the summer. The fair we went to come complete with a tractor pull (powered by souped up lawn mower engines), carnival rides and of course the animals.

Along the road to the fair, the family stopped by Lake Cumberland park and had a swim. It was a clean pool and it wasn't too crowded.

They also stopped by a roadside farmers market. The funny thing about Kentucky is that you can drive for 15 miles without seeing a soul then all of a sudden you come across a person on the side of the road trying to peddle their wares. I have no idea how they make a living doing it because the roads are so rural that nobody ever goes down them! Even so, I love the fact that they do it because it makes life here so much more interesting.

You never know what you are going to run into.

Shillito Park

Location: Shillito Park, Lexington (Reynolds Road)

Cost: Free

Suitable Ages: All

A few weeks ago my youngest son turned 8 years old (insert sniffle here). We didn't want to have the party here at our home so we took the kids to Shillito Park. It was perfect! There is plenty of room to play and the weather was made to order. While we only used the playground and took advantage of the ample grassy areas, there is plenty of other things to do at the park. There is a public pool, baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball courts, frisbee golf and miles of walking trails. Ramadas are available but with so many shady grass areas, we felt it was best to simply bring a folding table and camp out under the trees. I would highly recommend this location for any get together.